Recent Posts

Important data collected to assist the Reserve manage its francolin population. By Mike Zingel Early on Saturday the 31st August 2019, The South African Field Trial Club (SAFTC), a long-time corporate member of the Friends of Verloren Valei, set out … Read more

The Common Geranium Bronze butterfly is widespread, and can easily be attracted into suburban gardens. By Justin Bode Cacyreus marshalli, colloquially known as the Common Geranium Bronze or the Malvabloutjie, is native to South Africa and one of our most … Read more

DNA technology is changing the way plants—and especially orchids—are named, as the cases of Orthochilus aculeatus subsp. aculeatus and subsp. huttonii demonstrate. By Gerrit van Ede In the botanical world, name changes occur reasonably frequently due to a number of … Read more

An academic paper about the effects of the ban on safari hunting in Botswana could have some lessons for us at Verloren Valei. By James van den Heever A recent paper by Joseph Mbaiwa in the South African Geographical Journal … Read more

One of the founders of Friends of Verloren Valei dies It is with a very sad heart that we announce the passing of Bill Mincher, one of the founding members, and for a long time the treasurer, of Friends of … Read more

Why the crane breeding project at Verloren Valei was terminated, and some good news about growth in the numbers of Wattled Cranes. By James van den Heever In an earlier article, “The crane conundrum”, I explored some of the issues … Read more

The Alpine Widow butterfly is a denizen of high-altitude grasslands and so may be seen at Verloren Valei. By Justin Bode Restricted to the high-altitude grassland in the Steenkampsberg and above Machadodorp, Dingana alticola, the Alpine widow or Alpynse-weduwee, is … Read more

Autumn bird count completed by South African Field Trial Club
The first of the year’s annual surveys of Verloren Valei’s gamebirds was successfully undertaken on 27th April 2019, writes Mike Zingel.
… Read more